Author: Pastor Aleese Kenitzer

From Pastor Aleese

How many of you saw an orange car the last time you were out driving? It’s an odd question, really.  It’s likely we’ve all seen black cars, blue cars, and red cars. But an orange car? Now that’s an anomaly. 

During our Youth Group Thanksgiving night on November 24, this was the question I posed to our youth to open conversation. As to be expected, they all gave me a funny look, and proceeded to tell me that not one of them had seen an orange car on the way to church. But then, as a follow up, I asked them: what DID you notice on your way to church? Some of them told me about the sunset they saw or the other cars they noticed. But some of them also confessed that they really hadn’t noticed much of anything: whether because their mind was wandering, because they were doing something on their phones, or because they really didn’t think it was all that important to take notice of what was going on around them at the time. Some of the youth were a bit sheepish about their  confession, realizing that they’d been in their own little worlds. But, they all assured me that if they would’ve known to be on the look out for an orange car, it would’ve made a difference. Then their eyes would’ve been attuned to noticing that specific detail. 

It might not be all that important to notice orange cars around us. But it brings up a valid point: amidst all the glitz and the glam of Christmas that has already filled our society, what are we really watching for? What are we attuning our eyes to in our lives and the world around us? And what excuses are we coming up with for not paying attention to the coming of our King? 

In the life of the church, before coming to the manger at Christmas, we have this sacred season of Advent in which to practice attuning our eyes to when, where and how God’s kingdom is breaking into our lives and our world. And much like it might not be common place for us to notice an orange car on the road, it might not be common for us to practice tuning our eyes to God’s activity in what’s going on around us. Certainly, I have a feeling that we all believe that God IS at work in us and all around us. But when was the last time we took a moment to notice, to name, and to nurture that presence of Christ’s light? 

To adopt this lens takes practice. So, this Advent season: what would it be like to train your eyes to notice, name and nurture the presence of Christ’s light…wherever it might show up? It might take a change of perspective. But together, we might find that Christ—the only person who has the power to restore us and give us life—is actually doing amazing things… if only we just attune our eyes to His work. 

But, at the same time that you’re practicing attuning your eyes to where God’s kingdom is showing up, I also challenge you to look for where God’s kingdom isn’t showing up. Even the thought of that might sound strange. But think back to the orange car. It might be that there have been orange cars around you, and you simply haven’t noticed. But, on the flip side, it could also be that there weren’t any orange cars around to begin with. 

In the same way, it could be, that there are places and spaces in our lives and in our world that the kingdom of God isn’t manifesting itself. Not because God doesn’t desire to be present. But because at times we, and the world around us, are inhibiting the work of God’s kingdom by the way we live our lives. As much as we might not like to admit it, it’s the truth. It’s called sin; and it inhibits the work of God’s kingdom in the world. God has called us to repent, and to turn from those things that take us away from living fully in God’s kingdom. But even though we might get in our own way, our God wasn’t going to wait until we had our mess cleaned up. Instead, our God chose to come to us in Jesus Christ. Before we even knew what to even look for, God came to us. 

So this Advent, as we look toward the manger, I invite you to reflect on two things: 1) where Christ is at work, and 2) where we might be getting in the way of Christ’s work in the world. It would be much easier to skip ahead to Christmas. But it’s to this intentional reflection that we are called as we prepare ourselves, and our world, for our coming King. Christ has come. Christ is coming. And Christ will come again. Do you perceive it? 

Last month, we began talking about themes of gratitude and generosity. Many of you took up the 30-day gratitude challenge, and utilized the Gratitude Journals available to the congregation. Together, we took time to notice what we are thankful for in ourselves, in others, and in the world around us. But now what? As people who’ve returned to our Lord to offer our heartfelt thanks and praise, is that where it ends? Or, is there still another response?

Well, as our Gospel lesson indicated to us on Celebration Sunday, once we have returned to our Lord in thanks, we are commanded by Jesus to “get up and go.” In the Gospel story, Jesus encounters 10 lepers. Begging for mercy, they look to Jesus for healing. Seeing these lepers at a distance, Jesus sends them to the priests, and somewhere along their way, they are made whole. They are made clean. They are made new. But only one notices.That one returns. But even that isn’t the end of the story. Because after the man gives his thanks to Jesus, Jesus commands him, “Get up and go on your way; your faith has made you well.”

The truth is that YOU—like the man—have also been made well. You have been cleansed. And you have been given new life, restoring you to relationship with God and with those around you. But now, like the man, we are given the challenge: what are we going to do, or where are we going to go, as we “get up and go on our way”?

This is the question that is laid before us as disciples of Jesus and as a congregation. And, in truth, this is the question that is laid before us as we consider what it means to live a life of stewardship. Often, the word “stewardship” has left a bad taste in people’s mouths. For  so long, “stewardship” has come to be equated  with the church asking for money. But “stewardship,” at the heart of it all, is not just about money. Because stewardship is about more than money, offering plates, and pledges. And, to go even one step further, stewardship is about more than the “3 T’s”: time, talent, and treasure. Instead, stewardship, is about discipleship. In the words of Grace Pomroy Duddy, “It is the way that we love God and neighbor with our whole lives.” To take it one step further, stewardship is the way that we “get up and go,” living out of gratitude as we live on purpose for a purpose in God’s Kingdom.

On Sun., Oct 20, we paused as a congregation to intentionally think about one aspect of stewardship: our finances. To be clear, just as much as every other aspect of our lives is a part of our life of stewardship and discipleship, how we manage our finances is also a part of our life of stewardship and discipleship. This is one reason why the Stewardship Team and Council are encouraging households to consider their financial giving for year 2020.

But if we were to only talk about our financial stewardship and nothing else, we would be missing the point. Because stewardship is a lifestyle choice. It is a conscious decision to ask ourselves: As someone made new by the gift of Jesus, now what am I going to do to “get up and go on my way”? And how would Jesus have be use the gifts entrusted to me, for the sake of God’s whole kingdom?

When we start thinking about stewardship in this manner, it doesn’t take long for stewardship to encompass every part of our life. As much as we’d like to stick stewardship in a box and take it out about once a year when fall rolls around, the reality is that, just as much as discipleship is a lifelong commitment, so is stewardship.

So, as you consider your financial stewardship this season, I also invite you to consider how the entiretyof your life is an act of stewardship. And as you consider your life—the ways God has shown up to you, and the gifts God has entrusted to you—I invite you to consider: How is God calling me to “get up and go,” loving God and those around me? In thinking about that question, you just might begin to have an answer to what it means for YOU to live as a faithful steward.